Sunday, June 10, 2007

9. The MYSELF Mistake

Hey, y'all; I hope you've all had a happy, peaceful week.

I promised last time to do Part II of Subject-Verb Agreement, but, because I've heard another grammar problem so much lately, I've decided to postpone the Subject-Verb Part II lesson one more week and address another maddeningly common problem today.

What's up with the growing misuse of "Myself?" I don't recall seeing this problem nearly so much in the past as I see it now...and plenty of folks who should know better -- on TV, in movies, in speeches, etc. -- seem to have adopted this usage as the accepted and correct thing to say. Puh-leeze!! No way! Stay with me and I'll show you what I mean.

Here are examples of some common mistakes with "Myself:"

(1) Josh and MYSELF repaired the copy machine.(2) Jane drove Sherry and MYSELF to the movies.(3) The tomato garden was designed by Madison and MYSELF.

Okay, so why is the use of MYSELF wrong in these three sentences? The answer is that MYSELF is a REFLEXIVE PRONOUN, and REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS always refer to someone already mentioned previously or anticipated in the same sentence. An important word to know in this context is the word ANTECEDENT. In other words, the pronoun in question must have an antecedent in the same sentence if MYSELF is to be be used correctly. Also, these antecedents will be either a noun or pronoun. Generally speaking, most people who make this mistake aren't sure if they should use I or Me, so they avoid that confusion by choosing to use MYSELF, which, of course, is always wrong.

To clarify more, look at sentence #1. There is no antecedent for MYSELF. We know that Josh is mentioned, but who is MYSELF? There must be another noun or pronoun in the sentence that MYSELF stands for in order to use MYSELF, but there is not one. For this reason, the correct pronoun to use is "I". One possible example of a way to show how this WOULD work using MYSELF would be to say

I repaired the copy machine myself.

Now we have an antecedent for MYSELF -- "I" means the same thing as MYSELF, so MYSELF is correct (although the meaning has changed).

In Sentence #2, there is, again, no antecedent for MYSELF. Neither Jane nor Sherry means the same thing as MYSELF in that sentence, so MYSELF is wrong. The correct pronoun to use is ME. One possible way to write a similar sentence using MYSELF correctly would be to say something like

I drove Jane and Sherry to the movies MYSELF.

Now, again, we have an antecedent for MYSELF -- "I" means the same thing as MYSELF, so the correct answer is MYSELF. (Once more, the meaning is changed.)

In sentence #3, we once again have no antecedent for MYSELF. Certainly, Madison and MYSELF do not mean the same person in the context of the sentence. The correct answer is ME. Another similar sentence which, one more time, changes the meaning of the sentence could be

I MYSELF designed the tomato garden. (It's perfectly okay to have the subject pronoun and the reflexive pronouns together as in this sentence.)

Now, some of you are probably curious about the other reflexive pronouns that you studied in school Yes, there are others: ourselves, yourself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, and themselves. These pronouns, however, do not seem to give nearly as much trouble as MYSELF. Go figure. Anyway, they work essentially the same way the MYSELF pronoun works:

During the Boston Tea Party, the colonists disguised THEMSELVES as Indians. (Colonists=THEMSELVES)Theseus HIMSELF found the way out of the maze. (Theseus=HIMSELF)After the meal we brewed herbal tea for OURSELVES. (we=OURSELVES)She wants to go by HERSELF. (She=HERSELF)You call yourself a plumber? (You=YOURSELF)

Note: PLEASE NOTICE THAT YOU DO NOT SEE HISSELF OR THEIRSELVES IN THAT LIST ANYWHERE. THERE ARE NO SUCH (acceptable) WORDS IN OUR LANGUAGE!! If you've been in the habit of saying either of these last two, PLEASE try to erase them from your vocabulary and make us English teachers happy ! :-)

This lesson has focused on one aspect of pronouns, but, as you will see, pronouns, along with verbs, create probably more difficulties than any of the other six parts of speech put together! As a matter of fact, there are six different kinds of pronouns, and each is used in different ways and has different forms. What a language we have! Nevertheless, it's ours and we don't want to lose its versatility and beauty, so we'll plug away at the things that are a little more confusing and hope we'll master them all! Incidentally, some details about these reflexive pronouns that I have not gone into depth about include the importance of knowing parts of speech and pronoun case, but I think that with the above information, you will probably be just fine. We'll have to touch on some of these other things eventually, but, for now, I'm trying not to overload you too much.

Thanks so much for visiting again, and have a wonderful week. I love hearing from you, so do write.

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Have you ever wondered who the Grammar Guide is?
We've got the answer. :o)
She's a lifelong educator, an English expert (chuckle...she'd say not, but we know she is). Her name is Sara Cartrette, and she taught high school English for a total of 34 years (25 at Whiteville High School, her own alma mater :-) Her heart is in the South, so the blog entries will have a Southern flavor. Become a grammar star...visit often, and enjoy!

Have you ever wondered who the Grammar Guide is?
We've got the answer. :o)
She's a lifelong educator, an English expert (chuckle...she'd say not, but we know she is). Her name is Sara Cartrette, and she taught high school English for a total of 34 years (25 at Whiteville High School, her own alma mater :-) Her heart is in the South, so the blog entries will have a Southern flavor. Become a grammar star...visit often, and enjoy!

About Me

This is a weekly grammar blog meant to be an interactive forum where people can discuss some of the facets of Standard English....Southern style. ** Note: Being able to blog using this free site is great. However, I have formatting limitations; so for now - on my computers - I'm not getting to use bold, italics, indenting, etc. Thanks for your patience and flexibility. I'll just use capitalized letters and other options (that may be less than ideal grammatically) unless/until I discover other ways to format. ** One last note -- we all make mistakes from time to time, so don't be surprised to read about something you have been saying and didn't realize was an error. Sometimes we've heard and seen certain mistakes so often we just automatically absorb them without thinking. The writer of this blog makes errors, too, so if you notice one, don't hesitate to let me know. If what you say is correct, I'll make the appropriate change. If I disagree with you, I'll be polite and explain why.